Using Meditation to Lose Weight: Reality or Myth?

Have you ever thought about using meditation to lose weight? Your fitness journey might be unique to you. However there may be times when you get tired of the constant struggle of visiting the gym.

Becoming breathless after a workout and finding out you’ve only lost half a pound can be a big letdown. If your workout is causing burnout, then it might be the perfect time to mix it up a bit. You can do that by adding a new exercising regime to your daily grind.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a combination of mindfulness and exercise that promotes psychological well-being. This can be achieved by forcing an individual to be present in the moment. It has been found to be very effective when it comes to dealing with psychological problems. These problems may include stress, anxiety, depression, phobias and fears, binge-eating, etc.

The process of meditation allows for one’s energy to be focused inwards than the external environment. It helps a person understand their state of mind and relax amidst the hustle and bustle of their daily lives. Spending a few minutes on meditating, especially in the morning, can be very beneficial for your physical and mental health.

You can effectively use meditation to lose weight by simply finding a quiet place for yourself. You can sit in a comfortable position, keeping an open mind and concentrating your attention on your purpose for meditation. It is that simple and it is very effective. It is especially good for people who are stressed and feel they need an alternative way to refocus their energy.

Using meditation to lose weight might seem like something that health forums use to get people to read their material. It is actually a research proven phenomenon and provides a great prognosis when it is used with intention and purpose.

How Does Using Meditation to Lose Weight Work?

You can use meditation to lose weight in the following ways:

Use Mindfulness for Developing Healthier Eating

One of the first meditative techniques that you should use for weight loss is mindful eating. Mindful eating requires the individual to gain an understanding of what they eat and what improvements can be made. It involves a host of food related habits that should be observed. These include portion control, chewing and savoring food before swallowing, eating without any distractions like the television, mobile phones, etc.

You can efficiently control any food related cravings you might be experiencing. Just take a moment to acknowledge that your craving is simply a thought which will pass. Motivate yourself by reminding of your intentions to lose weight. After you have told yourself that your craving is a thought that will pass.

This is a great way of using meditation to lose weight. It allows for you to improve your relationship and dependence on food. You will not have the need for dieting because mindful eating will help you control yourself and your cravings. One of the most helpful ways to learn this is to read self-help books and watch informative videos.

Keep in mind that mindful eating does not mean you should starve yourself. It simply teaches you to indulge a little less.

Use Dhyana Meditation for Visualizing Your Weight Loss

You can use Dhyana meditation to lost weight as it is one of the most effective techniques on this list. In this weight loss visualization technique, you have to imagine a perfect and ideal you. Imagine everything that you aspire to be and you living your best life.

First, find a quiet place and sit or lie comfortably there. Next, close your eyes. Build an image in your mind of what you would look like as your ideal self. Begin by building your face, envisioning every feature as you would want it to look like.

However, only change features like your skin, dark circles and wrinkles, do not completely change your nose, eyes, etc. Next, envision your ideal upper body, and then move to your legs and finally your feet. Imagine yourself doing something you have always wanted to do, but could not because your weight was holding you back. Imagine you are doing it perfectly. Once completed, imagine what your perfect self would say after and say that out loud at least three times.

Dhyana meditation allows one to keep an image in their mind of what they want to look like. Just stay motivated to continue on your weight loss journey and achieve the look you are after.

Start Yoga

When using meditation to lose weight, weight loss or fat burning yoga is an essential exercise that you should at least try. There are many yoga poses that can allow for effective weight loss. They allow for you to use your entire body while holding different poses. Yoga will also help you develop greater flexibility, which will be very helpful during your other workout routines (including intensive-cardio).

You can use many different yoga tutorials and follow along to the instructions provided to you. You can even read a self-help fat burning yoga book for in-depth guidance of what you should and should not be doing. It can be particularly useful for yoga beginners. Look for meditation routines that can allow you to see results within a specified time period.

Yoga classes are an ideal source for you to get your much-needed yoga fix in. Find a class where you will be surrounded by people going through a similar journey like your own. Avoid classes that are more focused on the looks rather than health. Finding a yoga class with people similar to you will allow you to talk to others and get tips. Such classes will also help you get the motivation you need to continue with your journey.

Use Mobile Apps to Help on Your Journey

These days, mobile apps are available for basically everything and they can allow for huge improvements to be made in a person’s life. However, there are certain meditation apps that aid in your weight loss journey and if you someone who greatly relies on such technology in your everyday life, it would be perfect for you to download such an app.

Mobile apps will encourage you to continue your weight loss journey and they will provide you with daily tasks you should do to remain active on the app and in your journey. You should think about getting a meditation app that has everything in one, including guided meditation exercises, a food journal or food related tips that you can use and maybe even how to guides of different meditation exercises that you can use.

However, such an app would only be useful if you are sure that you can go through with whatever is instructed. Not being able to fulfill what the app tells you mean you will not be an active user and it would be better to simply delete the app from your phone.

Use Pranayama for Quicker Metabolism

When using meditation to lose weight, pranayama is one particular exercise that has been empirically found to be great for developing faster metabolism. Pranayama is basically the way you breathe while performing yoga exercises. The most effectual meditative trinity that you can use for weight loss is pranayama, meditation and yoga.

The increase in oxygen intake that takes place during pranayama allows for your body to increase its muscular activity, which allows for acute changes in your basal metabolic rate (or BMR). While this difference may not seem to be noticeable, doing it regularly can be very effective and it can also provide many other benefits.

Other benefits of pranayama include encouraging you to remain more awake (especially when performed right after waking up), decreasing your stress as it allows you to breathe and re-center yourself, decreasing any anxiety or other mental health problems you might be experiences, etc.

Pranayama may seem like something that is quite obvious and it may not make a huge difference, but even the smallest of changes can have an immense impact on your journey. Also, it is important to remember that you are on a journey and reaching your destination will take time (this time is determined by your body, not your mind).

Use Guided Meditation

One of the strongest ways of using meditation to lose weight is to make use of guided meditation. Guided meditation basically provides you with a voice that you can follow during your visualization experience.

The person guiding you through the meditation will tell you to envision different things and this will allow you to get into a meditative state faster as you do not have to constantly remind yourself to shift your attention and focus inwards, instead, you can simply listen to what the voice tells you to do.

There are many guided meditation videos available on the internet and most of them are high quality videos. These videos are the best option if you are looking for something that is freely available and something you can judge to be good by simply looking at the number of views it has. However, there are also many guided meditation apps that provide voice clips as your guidance.

The voice of the person guiding you will always be calming and you will probably be told to envision something relaxing (like standing on a sandy beach or walking through a forest barefoot).

Is it Actually Effective?

When using meditation to lose weight, there are two primary effects that the meditation will have on you and your spirit. The first being your psychological well-being.

Meditation has been found to be the most effective for different mental health problems and it is for this reason that one of the first things you will notice is how much better your psychological well-being has become through the experience. You will begin feeling less stressed, calmer and relaxed and definitely more focused. Meditation allows for you to focus your energy inwards instead of constantly putting it out to the external environment.

Another part of your life that meditation will have an impact on is your motivation and intention. As mentioned above, meditation allows you to refocus your energy inwards and this refocusing of your energy also allows for you to realize what you want and when you want it. Through various envisioning exercises, your intentions will definitely become clearer to you and this will allow for you to be more motivated to achieve your goals.

Final Thoughts

Using meditation to lose weight will be one of the best things you can do for yourself. It will help you change around your routine and gain the motivation you need to reach your goals. Your journey will also become a lot easier if you use meditation. You will learn how to control your cravings, become more intentional in what you eat and become less stressed. Your attention should be towards yourself rather than on the external environment.

You will have to use a combination of meditation, exercise and restricted eating. This does not necessarily mean dieting. Only relying on meditation will not be productive and you might end up gaining weight. Make sure you have strong will to keep your body healthy and you will surely see the results you want.